Natwar in Jakarta to attend summit
on tsunami
Jakarta, January 5
India will make a presentation on its relief and rehabilitation operations for the people affected by the tidal wave disaster in the country at an emergency summit of tsunami-hit nations and key aid donors here tomorrow.

Donations pour in
New York, January 5
From antibiotics to clothes to cash, US-based relief groups report an overwhelming response from donors moved by the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami, with more than $ 200 million raised.

How did so many animals escape?
Paris, January 5
Many animals seem to have avoided the December 26 tsunami that swept the coastline
of the Indian Ocean, thanks to acoustic senses that are far more advanced than humans’, say French zoologists.

Werner Theebs (66) from Berlin, Germany, watches a tractor rebuild parts of Patong beach on the Thai resort island of Phuket on Wednesday. The beach was devastated by a tsunami on December 26. — Reuters

15 killed in Iraq
Hilla (Iraq), January 5
A suicide car bomb attack on a police academy killed at least 10 persons and wounded 25, while five Iraqi civilians lost their lives and two were wounded when they got caught up in a crossfire here today.

150 Maoist killed in Nepal
Kathmandu, January 5
More than 150 Maoist rebels were killed and over 100 injured in a fierce gunbattle with security forces in western Nepal today, the army sources claimed.

Joint survey of Sir Creek begins
Islamabad, January 5
India and Pakistan have launched the joint survey of Sir Creek, the disputed coastal strip off Gujarat coast, to identify the boundary pillars installed in 1924 to demarcate the area, a move which officials expect would pave the way for a settlement.

Mira’s film on Indo-Pak ties soon
Islamabad, January 5
Renowned India-born filmmaker Mira Nair, currently touring Pakistan, has promised to make a movie that will promote friendly relations between the people of the two countries.

Jakarta, January 5
India will make a presentation on its relief and rehabilitation operations for the people affected by the tidal wave disaster in the country at an emergency summit of tsunami-hit nations and key aid donors here tomorrow.

External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh arrived here this evening to represent India at the day-long summit which will also be attended by several world leaders, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and ASEAN leaders.

The summit is likely to focus on setting up an advance warning system to prevent natural calamities like tsunamis, besides securing more aid, long-term rebuilding strategies and programmes to help survivors cope with trauma.

Singh will make a presentation to the assembled world leaders on the mobilisation efforts that India has undertaken internally in the affected areas of Andaman and Nicobar, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and also on the quick help extended by New Delhi to its neighbours in Maldives, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand which were all mauled by the deadly tsunamis.

“It is an occasion to show solidarity with our ASEAN partners and the rest of the world community which are helping in disaster management after killer tsunamis ripped across the coast of several countries, including southern India,” sources told PTI.

“Two ships mobilised to Indonesia by India to help in the relief efforts have reached,” the sources said, adding that one of them had the facility of a 40-bed hospital onboard.

“We have to ensure that there is a coordinated response to a disaster of this scale and also make sure that relief gets to countries which are most affected,” the sources noted, while describing the December 26 tsunamis as a regional disaster.

“Many countries were affected and not just one, and there has to be regional coordination of efforts,” they said.

Over the past few years India has managed to put in place the structure and expertise in disaster management and “we are willing to share this with our friends. We will put up our expertise in disaster management which ensures that relief reaches in time. We will also place at the disposal of our ASEAN friends weather forecasting and technology,” the sources said.

During his visit, Singh will also hold bilateral meetings with Annan, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura.

Singh, who is also expected to meet Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will leave here for home on Friday morning.

Already about $ 2 billion have been pledged from around the world to help the millions of tsunami victims rebuild their lives.
— PTI

Islamabad, January 5
Pakistan and India will take up the Kashmir issue at the political level early next month when Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh arrives here on a visit, it is learnt.

The visit, expected to take place from February 2 to 7, will provide the two sides with an opportunity to discuss the Kashmir issue on which no progress could be made at the recently concluded Foreign Secretary-level talks.

"The Indo-Pakistan dialogue has shifted to the higher political level and the Kashmir issue would now be taken up by the leaders of the two countries," maintained a senior official, pointing also to a likely meeting between Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the Saarc summit next month and the latter's planned visit to Pakistan in early March.

Mr Natwar Singh will be visiting Pakistan at the invitation of Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri. The Indian External Affairs Minister is expected to call on President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Aziz. His plan includes a visit to Peshawar and Lahore where he will witness Basant celebrations.

During his talks with Mr Kasuri, Mr Singh is likely to discuss the Indian proposal of establishing meeting points at five designated places along the Line of Control for a re-union of Kashmiri families on both sides of the divide, diplomatic sources said.

The proposal, first mooted by India at the Foreign Secretary-level talks in June, is being examined at the official level here. Though Pakistan does not seem to have any problems with the idea, diplomats say the proposal requires elaboration. While some officials believe there is merit in the proposal, others see it as an attempt to sidetrack the real issue.

Mr Natwar Singh had recently declared that there was 'no quick-fix solution' to the Kashmir issue. A significant statement made by his Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran during his visit here last week was: "Options which may not seem feasible today may appear practical tomorrow."

At the December secretary-level talks both sides had acknowledged that they were dealing with a complex issue and had claimed that they were moving in the right direction even if progress was slow towards dispute resolution.

Analysts say all the high-level interaction between Pakistan and India since early last year has failed to create any flexibility in the Indian traditional position on Kashmir: one, Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian Union and two, Kashmiris are Indian citizens. If anything, before and after every top-level meeting, the Indians reiterate this position.

Meanwhile, a slow-down in the back-channel diplomacy appears to be inevitable with the death of Indian National Security Adviser J. N. Dixit who had been pursuing the peace process with his Pakistani counterpart Tariq Aziz on a 'quiet' political track.

New York, January 5
From antibiotics to clothes to cash, US-based relief groups report an overwhelming response from donors moved by the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami, with more than $ 200 million raised.

One charity said online pledges were coming in at the rate of $ 1,00,000 an hour.

Donors contributing to what one official called a “tidal wave of generosity” ranged from actress Sandra Bullock, who gave $ 1 million to 3-year-old Antonio Cabrera, who joined his brothers in dropping off cash-filled sandwich bags at the American Red Cross office in Denver.

Charity officials said they expected donations to continue streaming in for weeks to come, putting the tsunami in the company of the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s and Central America’s Hurricane Mitch of 1998 as the foreign disasters prompting the largest contributions from US citizens.

Two former Presidents — Bill Clinton and George Bush — have been recruited to spur more private giving. The biggest recipient, by far, has been the American Red Cross — its pledged tsunami donations as of yesterday totalled $ 92 million.

Meanwhile, US film director Steven Spielberg along with his family has decided donate $ 1.5 million to people displaced by tsunami, his publicist said.

The donation from the director of “Jurassic Park” will be split between humanitarian agencies Save the Children, CARE and Oxfam, said Marvin Levy.

Local reports said actor Leonardo di Caprio has also donated $1 million.

Paris:
Companies across Europe continued to pour funds into the Asian tsunami relief effort, supplementing government donations with tens of millions of euros in financial aid, food and supplies.

In Sweden, car-maker Volvo and telecom giant Ericsson chartered a jet to repatriate Swedes wounded on the Thai resort island of Phuket.

From today, Scandinavian Airlines will ask its employees and customers to donate funds that will be given to Save the Children.

In France, food distribution giant Systeme U chartered a plane carrying 20 tonnes of materials to the stricken Indonesian province of Aceh. German-owned international courier service DHL will also send planes transporting aid.

Pharmaceutical firms like Germany’s Altana and Bayer, and France’s Sanofi-Aventis, have sent massive shipments of medications to the affected countries.

In Britain, oil giant BP, mobile telephone operator Vodafone and banking group HSBC all have made significant donations.

Seoul: North Korea, one of the world’s poorest countries, is donating $ 150,000 dollars in emergency relief.

“The government and people of the DPRK express condolences and sympathy to the governments and people of the afflicted countries and hope the aftermath of the quake and tsunami will be eradicated,” the North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said today.

The agency did not say whether the relief would be in cash or how it would be distributed to the affected countries.

South Korea has pledged $ 50 million for tsunami relief over three years.

Prague:
The Czech Republic has pledged $ 9.5 million in aid, the government said.

Of the sum, $ 6,67,000 was to be put toward the immediate relief effort, while the remaining $ 8.9 million was earmarked for reconstruction and development projects, Prime Minister Stanislav Gross told reporters.
— Agencies

A rescue team prepares to release a dolphin into the sea from a lake in Khao Lak, north of Phuket, Thailand, on Wednesday. The team rescued the rate Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphin, which was swept into the lake by the tsunami on December 26, and returned it to the sea on Wednesday. — Reuters
photo

Paris, January 5
Many animals seem to have avoided the December 26 tsunami that swept the coastline of the Indian Ocean, thanks to acoustic senses that are far more advanced than humans’, say French zoologists. Aerial pictures of Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park, broadcast on international TV news channels, show it was penetrated by surging floodwater.

But there were no signs of any dead elephants, leopards, deer, jackals and crocodiles, the species that have given the conservation reserve worldwide fame.

The footage adds to historic anecdotes about seismic waves, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, in which birds take flight, dogs howl and herd animals stampede to safety before catastrophe strikes.

If that is the case, the animals’ survival is unlikely to owe itself to some so-called sixth sense, but to acuter hearing or some already known sense, experts say.

“In anything to do with vibrations, seismic shocks or sound waves, animals have capabilities which we do not,” says Herve Fritz, a researcher in animal behaviour at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

“Elephants have infrasound communication. They can pick up these sounds at very great distances, from dozens of kilometres away.”

Infrasound is the term for low-frequence noise, usually below 20 Hertz, that is below the human threshold of hearing.
— AFP

Chattanooga (US), January 5
A local judge is offering traffic violators a choice: pay a fine or make a $100 donation to a tsunami relief charity. Municipal Judge Russell Bean began the offer on Monday and plans to continue it for at least two weeks.

"If they make this $100 donation to one of these programmes like Red Cross or Save the Children, I will give them amnesty," Mr Bean said. "I don't want to force this on them, but I thought this would be a good way for people to make a difference."

Ms Miranda Cagle, who went before the judge on charges of running a red light, was delighted by the offer. "Any time you get a chance to take a mistake and turn it into something good, it is a blessing," she said.
— AP

Hilla (Iraq), January 5
A suicide car bomb attack on a police academy killed at least 10 persons and wounded 25, while five Iraqi civilians lost their lives and two were wounded when they got caught up in a crossfire here today.

Hilla police spokesman Hadi Hatif said a suicide bomber drove into the compound and came under fire from the police before his car exploded. He said at least four cars and three nearby buildings were hit by the blast. Hilla is around 100 km south of Baghdad.

In another incident, five Iraqi civilians were killed and two wounded when they got caught up in clashes between insurgents and US troops in the restive city of Ramadi on Wednesday, witnesses and medical sources said.

A gunbattle broke out after rebels detonated a roadside bomb near a US military convoy in the city, 110 km west of Baghdad, and opened fire on the troops.
— Reuters

Kathmandu, January 5
More than 150 Maoist rebels were killed and over 100 injured in a fierce gunbattle with security forces in western Nepal today, the army sources claimed.

The three-hour gunfight took place in the Bankhet area near Musrai of Kailali district, 700 km west of Nepalese capital Kathmandu, after security forces launched a search operation of the Maoists’ base camp there.
— PTI

Islamabad, January 5
India and Pakistan have launched the joint survey of Sir Creek, the disputed coastal strip off Gujarat coast, to identify the boundary pillars installed in 1924 to demarcate the area, a move which officials expect would pave the way for a settlement.

Last month officials of the two countries agreed that a joint survey of the pillars erected in 1924 by the then authorities of Sindh and Kutch would begin from January 3.

The survey has begun as per the understanding and the defence teams from both sides were taking part in it, officials here said.

The survey covering both land and sea front was expected to take about four weeks, they said.

The two sides have so far held eight rounds of talks on the issue and have now agreed to conduct the joint survey of the seven-mile Creek. The Sir Creek issue was one of the eight subjects being discussed under the composite dialogue process.

Sir Creek is a small strip of water along the Rann of Kutch in India and Sindh in Pakistan. Officials said both countries were keen to acquire it as it is particularly considered rich in oil and natural gas.

Both sides need to show some urgency in reaching a settlement as they have to solve the issue by 2009 failing which the United Nations would declare it as international waters.
— PTI

Islamabad, January 5
Renowned India-born filmmaker Mira Nair, currently touring Pakistan, has promised to make a movie that will promote friendly relations between the people of the two countries.

When asked about Indian films that were anti-Pakistan in sentiments, Nair told Indus Plus TV in an interview that she would work on a movie about India and Pakistan with a view to bringing both countries and the people together and removing misunderstandings between them.

She said the Governments of India and Pakistan should allow filmmakers to travel freely in the subcontinent.

Nair said she was optimistic that relations between Pakistan and India would improve.
— PTI

Chicago, January 5
Only one in four persons can stick to a diet for a full year, a study comparing adherence to weight-loss programmes said.

In the study, four groups of 40 overweight or obese adults each were assigned to one of four weight-loss programmes: the Atkins low-carbohydrate diet, the Ornish vegetarian, the Weight Watchers plan or the Zone. Participants were enrolled in two-month classes to help them and then were on their own.

"We found that all four diets worked well for weight loss (and) heart disease risk factor reduction, but only in the people who could follow their diet closely for a year," said study author Dr Michael Dansinger of Tufts-New England Medical Centre in Boston. Overall, successful dieters lost an average of 5 per cent of their body weight or roughly 4.5 to 9 kg after one year and one in 10 dieters lost more than 10 per cent of their weight or more than 11 kg.

"To find the one diet that's best for you, try 'dating the diets' as if looking for a life-long partner. You may kiss a few frogs along the way, but once you find the one you can live with forever, stand by your plan," Dr Dansinger said. —
Reuters

BRIEFLY

Siamese twins
separated
RIYADH: A medical team in Saudi Arabia successfully separated a pair of Polish conjoined infant girls who shared a spine and intestines. The twins, 14-month-old Daria and Olga Kolacz, underwent a complex 15-hour separation operation on Monday at the King Abdul Aziz Medical City here.
— Reuters

Comics pioneer
Eisner dead
MIAMI: Will Eisner, the artist who revolutionised comic books with the popular newspaper supplement "The Spirit" and taught generations of US soldiers how to maintain their equipment with the "Joe Dope" series, has died. He was 87. Eisner died on Monday at Florida Medical Centre of complications from quadruple bypass heart surgery last month.
— AP

Marriage rush in China
BEIJING: Couples across China are rushing to get married in the next few days before the Year of the Rooster, chickening out of what they believe to be a jinxed time to tie the knot. This year the lunar cycle begins relatively late, on February 9, which means it will not contain "lichun", the auspicious day that marks the start of spring, earning it the dubious distinction of being a "widow year" or unlucky for wedlock.
— Reuters

'The
Incredibles' regains top slot
LONDON: The animated adventures of a family of undercover superheroes has flown back to the number one spot on the British film charts after slipping into third position. "The Incredibles", a computer animated movie about the Parr family, raked in a mammoth £1.29 million over the New Year weekend, bringing its total gross to £28.6 million, Screen International said.
— Reuters